Thursday, 18 June 2009

Miéville on Tolkien: "Tolk gives good monster!"

After Richard Morgan's 'essay' on Tolkien (you know, the one that completely fails to take The Silmarillion into consideration and insinuates that anyone who likes Tolkien is intellectually-challenged) I suspected it would only be a matter of time before another author wrote some sort of response.

However, I didn't think it would be China Miéville that would do so - the same man who infamously dismissed Tolkien as "the wen on the arse of fantasy literature." Recent years have witnessed a gradual change in Miéville's opinion of Tolkien, culminating on his new article Five Reasons Tolkien Rocks.

Although he doesn't directly state that this is a response to Morgan's piece, Miéville seems to indicate that it is, by saying, "every few years, certain as tides, someone will write a splenetic screed against the Professor, explaining why he's the devil/ worst things to happen to fantasy/voice of reaction/zomg most boring writer EVER /etc. The Oedipal Resentment motivating many of these attacks may be trivially obvious, especially in those from within fantastic fiction..."Anyway, it's a well-written article that's definitely worth a read. I particularly like the moments where Miéville's inner geek breaks loose, such as where he discusses the Watcher in the Water - "Dude. That totally was cool. I mean, say what you like about him, Tolk gives good monster. Shelob, Smaug, the Balrog...in their astounding names, the fearful verve of their descriptions, their various undomesticated malevolence, these creatures are utterly embedded in our world-view. No one can write giant spiders except through Shelob: all dragons are sidekicks now. And so on."

Broaden your horizons...

Speculative Horizons is a UK-based blog dedicated to discovering the best in speculative fiction. Here you'll find book reviews, author interviews, artwork for upcoming releases, and commentary on all aspects of the genre.

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About Me

A child of the eighties, I was raised on a steady diet of Ghostbusters, Thundercats and Transformers. I eventually discovered fantasy books via the awesome Fighting Fantasy series, and my love of fantasy led me to create Speculative Horizons, a popular book review blog I ran for three years. In 2010 I joined Orbit to work as an editorial assistant.